Visakhapatnam: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy inaugurated Bhavitha, a programme that aims at changing the skill development ecosystem into a vibrant one for preparing the youth to meet the growing needs of the industry, here on Tuesday.

Addressing students and youth trained in various skills after the launch, the Chief Minister said that Bhavitha is a wholesome and comprehensive programme that brings convergence of the industry with institutions like ITI and Polytechnic Colleges.

The programme’s sole objective is empowerment of the youth with the knowledge of various skills, he said. He also launched the web portal and mobile app AP Skill Universe, the platform that coordinates the skill training and development programmes.

To make the youth globally competitive, the Government has started revolutionising the educational system to enable students to get certificates from international educational institutions like Harvard and MIT in emerging courses, the Chief Minister said.
This has become necessary due to lack of job-oriented courses and quality studies in the present educational system, he said, adding that the Government has already initiated efforts to change the training ambience in Polytechnic and ITI colleges also. He said that 158 industrial units have come forward to train our ITI and Polytechnic students in various skills and employ them in their organisations.

Every constituency and every district will have a skill development hub and sill training college respectively and they will work under the aegis of a Skill Development University, he said, adding that Bhavitha (The Cascading Skills Paradigm) which has been a pilot project so far, will be implemented on a regular basis henceforth.

He said he is happy that 26,000 candidates out of 53,000 trained youth under the programme have already got placements in different institutions. Two of the trained youth also spoke on the occasion and thanked the Chief Minister for launching the programme.

The programme, a significant milestone in revolutionising skill development, is a collaborative programme between Government and industries to modernise training institutions and impart training to the youth in tailor-made courses for meeting the needs of the industry.
Minister for Finance and Skill Development B. Rajendranath, Education Minister B. Satyanarayana, Medical and Health Minister V. Rajani and Principal Secretary (Skill Development) PS Suresh Kumar also participated in the programme. The Chief Minister also inaugurated and laid foundation stone for a slew of development works worth Rs. 1,500 crore.